Go to Sleep, Hero
by Startide Risen
Summary: Disguised as Sheik, Zelda goes to meet Link after his defeat of the Fire Temple. A peek into her psyche.
1. Link Off, You Linking Piece of Link

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**Disclaimer:** I don't own Zelda. I'm just borrowing.   
  
**Summary:** I was watching my younger brother beat the Fire Temple when this scene just spontaneously popped into my head and _demanded_ to be written. The Muses don't like me, so when they decide to be nice and hand me an idea, I run with it. I can't say that this little vignette has a point, but it was fun to write. I hope you enjoy.   
  
This is the slightly revised version; I made a few changes to the original on the good advice of reviewers. Big thank you to all wonderful people who click the review button!!   
  


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**Go to Sleep, Hero**   
_by Startide Risen_

  
  
The torch crackled in the corner, and Princess Zelda, once again made unrecognizable by scarlet irises and the close-fitting attire of the Sheikah, sat with her knees pulled to her chest in a corner of Darunia's room, only a few inches away from the entrance to the Fire Temple. In later days she would vaguely recall that she had been burning up underneath the cowl that wound about her head and obscured the lower portion of her face, but at the time she didn't even notice the sweat that rolled down her nose and into the suffocating fabric. She didn't notice anything at all, really, now that she had grown tired of trying to interest herself in the Goron's strange decorating style and gone into absorption mode. Her entire concentration was focused on the doorway just to her left. Minutes passed like days as she sat in her silent vigil, rarely even twitching. The largest movement she made in over an hour was to absentmindedly scratch at the back of her right hand.   
  
Suddenly, blue light glared into the room, sending Zelda to her feet with extraordinary speed. The next instant she felt light-headed—probably due to the fact that her blood was abruptly able to start circulating freely again and had immediately rushed to her head. Shaking herself to get rid of the spots that suddenly danced in front of her eyes, she peered around the edge of the entryway cautiously as the glaring light dimmed to a more tolerable glow.   
  
In the roiling heat just inside the entrance, a column of light shone down onto a pedestal marked with the emblem of the Fire Medallion. Floating down within the column to land lightly on his feet as though he did this every day was Link, the Hero of Time, the army of one. She caught her breath at the sight of him, the way she always did. It never stopped being a relief to see him alive.   
  
Zelda watched as the pool of light around the Hero's feet receded and sank into nothingness, uncertain whether she should approach him. Link simply stood on the pedestal where Darunia must have sent him, swaying slightly as his knees threatened to give out. Navi flew out from under his hat, yammering anxiously at him—something about "sit down… put your head between your knees… deep breaths." Zelda ignored the little fairy, instead taking in the numerous deep cuts and third-degree burns that had left dark bloodstains on Link's red tunic. It looked like the Fire Temple had been no better than the Forest Temple. Probably worse. But he was wearing the same look of lightheaded triumph she had seen on him after the last temple, with his eyes closed and his head tilted back and the shadow of a grin playing at his lips. Uh-oh. She knew what came immediately after that look.   
  
She darted to Link's side as he collapsed and managed to catch him around the chest just before his knees hit the hard stone of the pedestal. He opened his eyes long enough to identify her before letting them fall closed again. Well, at least he hadn't actually passed out this time…   
  
"Oh, thank Farore! Sheik!" Navi piped, dipping in the air with relief.   
  
"'Lo, Sheik," Link murmured, trying unsuccessfully to support some of his own weight; his legs stubbornly refused further punishment for belonging to him. Zelda blinked; it was always jarring to hear him call her Sheik. She had long since grown used to it from the mouths of others, but she was always unduly surprised when he said it.   
  
"Hello, Hero," she replied, remembering to drop her tone a whole two octaves to her "Sheik voice." With a complicated motion that nearly pulled a muscle in her back, she slung his left arm over her shoulders and struggled valiantly to straighten. _Goddesses, he's heavy! Or maybe it's the damn sword and shield…_ Finally she managed to get him to his feet, though he still sagged heavily against her. _Oh, curses, the edge of the shield is digging into my ribs._   
  
"You can call me Link, you know," he muttered for the thousandth time as she half led, half carried him out of the blistering heat of the Temple.   
  
"No, I can't," came the terse reply as she hauled him into the relative cool of Darunia's room. Navi trailed behind them, bobbing worriedly over their shoulders.   
  
"I can't imagine why not," Link murmured. "Or is it a disgusting swearword in the Sheikan language?" he mused almost to himself, opening his eyes hazily and looking up at Zelda. She paused in dragging him along to glare at him with Sheik's disconcerting crimson eyes. The look she was giving him had never failed to humble the average salesman trying to cheat her or shame the average farmgirl trying to flirt with "that mysterious Sheikah boy." (In the latter case, the stare was accompanied by a furious blush.)   
  
Link wasn't fazed.   
  
"I can just picture it… 'Link you…' 'Link off, you linking piece of link…'" he went on in a drowsy whisper, closing his eyes again. Navi giggled behind him. "Get the link out of here, you linking idiot… Oh, link it, the linking thing…"   
  
Somehow Zelda was not surprised to find that the Sheikan Death Glare had no effect whatsoever on Link.   
  
"If it isn't, it ought to be," she replied before hauling him over to Darunia's mockery of a bed. _Din damn it, Gorons have no concept of the word "soft."_ Despite this, she sat him down on the edge of the slab of stone and started to wrestle his shield off him. Navi flew into one of the empty jars that rested on the nearby table and announced her intention to have a nap and added that someone had better soundproof her jar in case Link snored.   
  
"I don't snore, Navi," Link told her in a tired voice that suggested it was an old argument. Or maybe he just couldn't muster the energy to be indignant.   
  
"How would you know?" she fired back, her piping soprano echoing from the jar.   
  
"Because I'm just smart like that," he murmured, but plucked his hat from his head and wadded it in the neck of the jar nevertheless. Zelda just smiled and continued untying weaponry from his belt. For a long moment she worked in silence.   
  
"Seriously, Sheik," Link addressed her with his eyes closed again. "Why do you refuse to call me by name?"   
  
She sighed. _You ask me that every time you see me, boy. And I swear there's a reason. A good reason._ A good month ago, when Link had arrived in the Temple of Time after his seven years' sleep, Zelda had watched him from the shadows in her guise as Sheik and tried to force herself to call his name, step into the light, and offer what little information she had. But she couldn't. She couldn't use his name when she was hiding behind a shadow and a false identity. So she made a private bargain with herself. The day she would call him Link would be the day he called her Zelda.   
  
But he couldn't know that.   
  
"How do you know you were wrong about it being a Sheikan expletive?" she shrugged, setting his bow and quiver aside. She unbuckled his sword's baldric and started to lift it over his head. "Besides, 'Hero' just—OH, SWEET NAYRU! _Agh!_" Zelda cursed eloquently in every tongue she knew while shaking her hand frantically in an effort to be rid of the fire that had erupted in her fingers when she had touched the hilt of the Master Sword. This was hardly something Link could keep his eyes shut through.   
  
"What? Sheik, what?" he demanded, making a feeble effort to leap to his feet and achieving a sort of bounce on the edge of the slab.   
  
"I—touched—the—bloody—sword!" she gritted out, flapping her hand around madly. She sucked in a breath through her teeth and with an effort held her arm steady. Link sagged wearily again when he saw that there was no invading army of Stalfos to be fought off—just a minor mishap with a sword only he could wield. He watched his friend with a tired sort of empathy as she held both arms rigid and took deep breaths while the pain faded. "Ouch," she concluded.   
  
"You know, Sheik," said Link. "You scream an awful lot like a girl."   
  
"Link off, you linking piece of link," she said nastily, picking up the baldric delicately in two fingers and keeping it at arm's length as she set it on the table with the rest of his equipment. That done, she fished in her pack for a salve to rub onto his burns. "Which one's your worst burn?" she asked, advancing on him with a tin of ointment.   
  
"Probably this one," he said, delicately tapping a ghastly welt on his forearm that shone with blood. "Volvagia's handiwork…"   
  
"Hold still, then. This stuff stings." She dabbed a finger in the clear salve and spread it gently over the burn. He didn't flinch. "Any other bad ones?" she asked.   
  
"No," he replied.   
  
She put the salve away and turned to look straight at him, folded her arms, and in her best impression of Impa said, "Now go to sleep, Hero. It's been a long three days."   
  
"Three days? That how long I was in there?"   
  
"Yes. Now shut up and sleep." She pushed him down onto the Gorons' idea of a bed, pulled his boots off, and started tugging his gauntlets off. She had removed the left one when something caught her eye. She turned his hand over and saw that it was raw with burns and blisters. "Goddesses! I thought you said you didn't have any other bad burns." He just shrugged. "How could you even hold a sword?"   
  
"You get used to it," he replied, once again without bothering to open his eyes. Zelda could only shake her head.   
  
"You're not getting away with that," she told him. _Bloody stubborn, aren't you?_ "I won't have Navi yelling at me because I didn't notice that your hands had been singed." And she retrieved the salve from her pack again and saw to his burns, wrapping both palms in clean linen.   
  
"You're good at this," he murmured vaguely when she was done.   
  
"Of course I am," she said glibly, turning away and making for the door. "Now I'd best get out of here and let you sleep."   
  
"Sheik?" She stopped immediately and looked over her shoulder at him. His eyes were still closed; he couldn't tell whether he'd gotten her attention or not.   
  
"Hmm?" she prompted.   
  
"Thanks."   
  
Her cowl hid her smile, though he wouldn't have seen anyway. "Of course, Hero."   
  
"I have a name. It's Link."   
  
"I know. Good night." She smothered the torches.   
  



	2. Go Hug a ReDead

  
  
  
  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own Zelda. I'm just borrowing.   
  
**Author's Note:** Wrote this quite a while ago, but I always thought it didn't bear posting. Now I've... well, suffered temporary insansity and decided to stick it up here. So, erm, enjoy?   
  


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_This is such a cliché,_ Zelda told herself. _This is so incredibly trite and… and hackneyed and.... I mean, I'm watching him _sleep_, for Din's sake…   
  
But he does look so sweet when he sleeps.   
  
Stop it! To go into all that would be a _complete_ cliché, and then I would have to commit some serious suicide to cure my bad case of sentimentality. Maybe I should go hug a Redead and get it over with..._   
  
Zelda sat in the same spot she had occupied while waiting for Link, though this time she was cool and comfortable, sprawled against the wall in an image of relaxation. Goron City was much cooler by night, it seemed. But the evening cool had not made her comfortable enough to doze off. It had been hours since she had extinguished the torches and settled here, but sleep still hadn't come for her.   
  
It had been no shock to see that Link had fallen asleep almost immediately. He had been in a hellish temple for three days, constantly at risk of life and limb, and any nap he might have managed would have undoubtedly been an uneasy one what with all the monsters running around after his blood. Zelda wouldn't be at all surprised if he slept past noon the next day. She wouldn't begrudge him the rest, either. He deserved whatever leisure he pleased after what he had been through.   
  
_After what you put him through_, a spiteful little voice in her head said.   
  
_Oh, Nayru,_ she thought frantically. _I'm hearing voices! Didn't Impa tell me I would drive myself insane with all these secrets and lies and disguises…_   
  
But no matter how her mind tried to ramble on about Impa's advice or her mental health, she couldn't long distract herself from the one thing she least wanted to think about.   
  
It was her fault that Link had to do what he was doing.   
  
Every bruise, every scratch, every burn… each one hurt her, too, because she knew that whatever blood he shed was on her hands. _She _had come up with the brilliant plan of opening the Sacred Realm and getting to the Triforce before Ganondorf did. _She_ had asked him to run off on an impossible quest. _She_ had thrown him the ocarina so long ago, setting the stage for the greatest tragedy in Hyrule's history.   
  
It was something she had never confided to anyone, not even Impa. That sort of thing just didn't bear shouting from the rooftops.   
  
_Stop it. Right now. Before you fall into some sort of bottomless pit of despair._ She had tried to train herself long ago never to think about the heavy weight of blame too long. Impa once said that to dwell on our shortcomings would only serve to distract us from our purpose. Of course, she was referring to shortcomings on a much smaller scale at the time…   
  
Zelda pulled in a shaky breath and got to her feet. She needed contact with a world outside her own mind, needed a distraction from what was in her head. With a wraithlike grace that only Sheikah training could produce, she moved to the doorway that led out to the main cavern of Goron City. She glanced over her shoulder at Link once to ensure that he was still sleeping, then stepped out into the torchlit hall.   
  
"Sheik" had long since befriended most of the Goron population. An accumulation of allies was an advantageous thing under the iron fist of Ganondorf, and with Link's return it became necessity. So Zelda was greeted by a number of the mountain people as she ambled along the walkways of the great cavern. She stopped to talk with a few of them, especially those Link had recently freed from the Fire Temple. It was rather endearing the way they went on about "that heroic young man who saved us from Volvagia."   
  
Eventually her feet took her outside to a lonely plateau, though she had no real purpose there. Idly she looked to the stars, absentmindedly searching out familiar constellations. There was Sambra, the huntress, and to the east was Faron… But dawn was coming and they would soon fade…   
  
"Why did you come here?" a commanding voice demanded from behind her.   
  
Zelda whirled in the blink of an eye to face whoever addressed her. She sighed in irritation when she saw who it was.   
  
"Because it's hot in that city and I wanted some fresh air, Impa," she said, making a point of using her Sheik voice. Zelda's Sheikah guardian stood half-shadowed a few feet away, arms crossed, intense red eyes peering at her young charge disapprovingly.   
  
"You know what I mean, Zelda," Impa said. "And I would appreciate it if you would not play these games with me."   
  
"Impa," Zelda sighed, reverting to her own voice. "I know you didn't want me to come meet him. I know you didn't want me to go meet him at the Forest Temple, either. And I know it's because you don't want me to be discovered and caught. But I think I am mature enough now to decide such things for myself. I can't stay hidden in the Sheikah caverns forever, you know."   
  
"That's not it at all," Impa told her fiercely, letting her arms fall and stepping forward. "You are doing this for the wrong reasons."   
  
"Really? Wanting to help the man I've asked to save the world is the wrong reason?" Zelda bristled.   
  
"No. Guilt and latent attraction are the wrong reasons," Impa said bluntly.   
  
"Latent attraction?" Zelda cried, spreading her arms wide. "I'm doing this because it's _right_!" She was beginning to remember why arguing with Impa was not like arguing with anyone else; it made her edgy, almost as if she feared punishment. Aftereffects of being reared and regimented by the woman, she supposed. Not to mention Impa knew her well enough to hit nerves.   
  
"You could have sent me. You could have sent one of the other Sheikah," Impa insisted.   
  
"Impa, I am tired of asking other people to fight my battles for me!" she fumed, turning her back on her guardian. "First it was Link, whose life has been a living hell ever since, then it was the men of the Hylian army, who were massacred by the thousand, and now you want me to add to the list!"   
  
"Don't make it sound like they had no choice in the matter," Impa warned. "Give them credit for the ability to make their own decisions, Zelda."   
  
"Impa, please. This is something I can do, and I have to do something!"   
  
"You have done more than—"   
  
"Impa, all of this is my fault!" she nearly screamed, whirling around to face her. The Sheikah woman stared for a moment, then slowly raised her eyebrows, crossed her arms, and took a step back to examine Zelda as though seeing her for the first time. Zelda stopped dead. _I shouldn't have said that. I really shouldn't have said that. Redead-hugging plan to be executed at first opportunity._ She waited nervously for a response, but Impa was silent in her study. "Say something," Zelda whispered finally. "Please say something."   
  
"It is not your fault that all of this has happened," Impa said slowly, shaking her head as though unable to believe what she had just heard. "It is Ganondorf's. All that you have done is tried to defend your people."   
  
"I let Ganondorf into the Sacred Realm," Zelda breathed. "I let him get his hands on the Triforce of Power."   
  
"Zelda, he would have found a way no matter what," Impa maintained. "In sending Link to gather the Spiritual Stones and wield the Master Sword, you entered this war with the power of the Hero of Time behind you. Had you done anything else, we wouldn't have the chance we have now. It's a small one--it's one in a million--but it is a chance. Listen to me, Zelda," Impa said earnestly, catching and holding her eyes. "It wasn't your fault."   
  
Zelda shook her head, stepping back. "Impa, I have to go."   
  
"Just listen! Don't—" Impa started, reaching out to the girl she loved like a daughter. But Zelda was gone.   
  



End file.
